Eight people allegedly linked to a Texas midwife accused of performing illegal abortions have been arrested and indicted for practising medication and not using a license, Attorney General Ken Paxton introduced Wednesday.
At least one of many eight people indicted in the case is accused of illegally performing an abortion in addition to costs of practising and not using a license, courtroom paperwork present.
In March, Paxton introduced felony costs towards Houston-area midwife Maria Margarita Rojas, 49, who he says supplied illegal abortions and operated a number of medical clinics and not using a license. Rojas was the primary individual charged in violation of the Texas Human Life Protection Act, in accordance to Paxton’s workplace.
“We’re still working vigorously to defend Ms. Rojas because we believe she did not commit any crimes,” Rojas’ lawyer, Nicole DeBorde Hochglaube, advised NCS on Wednesday. “We have yet to receive any evidence that supports either of those claims.”
Hochglaube mentioned Paxton, who referred to the defendants as a “cabal of abortion-loving radicals,” has made public statements about Rojas and the investigation designed to inflame the general public and “run afoul of Texas disciplinary rules of professional conduct.”
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The Center for Reproductive Rights referred to as the case towards Rojas a sham. The group is representing Rojas in a separate civil lawsuit.
“Without any proof, Paxton went after Rojas, a licensed midwife dedicated to helping her pregnant patients. He heartlessly shut down several clinics that provided lawful, affordable services to families around Houston, most of whom were low-income, uninsured immigrants with few options for health care,” Jenna Hudson, the group’s senior counsel, advised NCS in a press release.
Supporting paperwork weren’t available for all eight people named Wednesday, although some appeared on a courtroom docket. NCS reached out to Paxton’s workplace and the Waller County district lawyer for extra data.
Paxton emphasised in his announcement that a number of the eight people embrace overseas nationals.
“It’s no coincidence that he is targeting Rojas and these clinics amid the widespread anti-immigrant sentiment nationwide. Texas health care workers deserve respect, not to be treated like criminals,” Hudson mentioned.
Following her arrest in March, Rojas was booked into the Waller County Sheriff’s Office and launched the subsequent day, in accordance to jail data.
The midwife was indicted on 15 felony counts in Waller County, together with illegal efficiency of an abortion and 12 counts of practising medication and not using a license, Paxton’s workplace mentioned. Her community of clinics was barred from practising medication because the case unfolds, it added.
Texas law, which makes no exceptions for rape or incest, permits for abortions provided that a pregnant individual is “at risk of death or serious physical impairment of a major bodily function unless an abortion is performed or induced.”
Providers – who danger penalties of not less than $100,000, the lack of their medical licenses and jail time for violating the regulation – have mentioned the uncertainty round that coverage has had a chilling impact on medically crucial abortions in the state.
While state regulation doesn’t enable for sufferers in search of abortions to be criminally prosecuted themselves, a 26-year-old Texas girl was arrested and charged with homicide in 2022 after utilizing treatment to self-induce her personal abortion. She spent two nights in jail earlier than the fees had been dismissed and filed suit earlier this year against Starr County and the prosecutors concerned.